Rich Man, Poor Man (1976) Chapter 9

The brothers of "Rich Man, Poor Man" seem to be going through a change.  Who is good and who is bad?  It's hard to tell.  Sure, Nick Nolte has to leave the country for pissing off the Mafia, but it's self-protection.  It's Peter Strauss as the hard-nosed businessman who is becoming less attractive.  Age and money have given him an ego, but then again, the people around him (his mother, his boss, even Susan Blakely) are also fairly unpleasant people, nothing like the hopeful innocents who celebrated the end of World War II.  As we pick up the story in 1962,  it's unclear who is to be admired anymore.

Peter is breaking up the financial partnership with Ray Milland, who is as upset as Peter's mother.  "Who retires at 35?" Ray asks.  "He has no time for anything, not even his mother," Dorothy complains.  The next step is politics, as local bosses try to draft him into running, not caring what party he's affiliated with.  He also proposes to Susan AGAIN and she puts him off AGAIN, though her reasons are wearing awfully thin, so thankfully this time, she agrees to marry him!  Yes, in fact, here is a television moment that is different: a wedding begins the episode rather than ending it.  


I'm not entirely sure what Susan's outfit is all about: turban on her head, fur-ringed around the neck.  Dorothy talks during the wedding, telling an uninterested Ray she wishes her other son were there, but "he's in South America, the merchant marines."  Give that about eight seconds to settle in and we're doing 70s stereotyping without apology.  Nick gets off his ship and there is a man resting on the ground with his sombrero over his face.  


Nick sees a fight going on at the wharf, where insanely muscular William Smith almost kills a guy with his bare hands.  They take an instant dislike to each other.  


In high contrast, Peter is on the golf course, the ultimate rich man's enclave.  He's playing with his old pal Tim McIntire, who wants to replace him at the company and is also dating Kim Darby.  Peter tells him Kim is seriously mentally wigged out, but Tim doesn't believe him.


From there, Peter goes to meet the political bigwigs, headed by none other than Van Johnson (wearing a big wig on his head, FYI).  They want Peter to run, but Peter takes the high road: no deals or anything without his knowledge.  Basically, he doesn't want to be in any one's back pocket.  You have to laugh at that sort of naiveté, and I'm sure audiences in 1976 did, as they would elect unknown Jimmy Carter over known quantity Gerald Ford, their first chance to blot the stain of Watergate.  Unctuous Van agrees to the terms, though with a glint in his eye that says, "yeah, whatever."


Nick meets another seagoing reject, Herbert Jefferson Jr.  Herbert is friendly, but Nick tries to keep to himself.  In comes William Smith, who slings every racial epithet at Herbert Jefferson, with whom he refuses to be in the same room.  Nick doesn't say a thing, but finds Herbert Jefferson later to explain that he can't be caught fighting or else someone will recognize him.  


Still going with the fur theme, this time on her peignoir, Susan is very pregnant and very ill-tempered.  She yaps at Peter any chance she gets and though she denies missing her old life, she clearly does.  As Peter is about to leave for the day, Susan starts having horrible pain.  She's lost the baby.  


Waiting outside his home when Peter gets there is nutso Kim Darby, who tells him, "I wish it were her who died," not at all what Peter wants to hear, and she continues shouting through the door when he locks her out.  Alone, he can have his first breakdown of the entire miniseries.  However, he always makes conversation swing back to himself, even with Susan at the hospital where he offers to get out of politics if she doesn't like it, but since he feels he can fix the entire system from within, he wants to keep at it.  She has no choice but to agree.  


At a stopover in the French Riviera, Nick (who kind of speaks a bit of French) and Herbert Jefferson decide to buy a boat in order to give charter tours so they can live there the whole time.  However, the boat costs $15K.  Nick somehow thinks he can get the money and his son and live comfortably there.  


Despite Peter's warning, Tim marries Kim, giving Dorothy and Ray a chance to bitch to each other again.  Even at her wedding, Kim starts in on Peter.  It's at the wedding that Susan gets to meet Van and the rest of the political team.  They have their own ideas about what to do with Susan during the campaign, none of which seem to thrill her.

Rich Man, Poor Man (1976) Chapter 4

Episode 3 of "Rich Man, Poor Man" was something of a reminder episode, a chance to catch up with the characters without too much happening.  Peter is still trying to work his way through college, Susan is in NYC trying to become an actress and Nick is trying to make a life with family in California, despite a quick affair with the household maid.

Drunken Nick wants to dance with Talia Shire, out with her rich boyfriend, but the rich kids beat him up badly and toss him into the water.  Talia chirps, "I wouldn't go home with him!" as she helps Nick out of the water and to her home since her dad is out of town.

In his little college town, Peter has an appointment with Robert Reed's pal Ray Milland, so important he has pictures of world leaders on his wall.  Department store magnate Ray gives him a job, though he's not happy about it because college kids haven't worked out well in the past.  "I expect an honest day's work.  Do that and you've got a job.  Fail and you're gone with the wind," Ray bellows.  Not only does he work, but he's on the track team and studies economics with vigor while being harassed by Kim Darby, Ray's daughter who has the hots for him.

During a study break to ski, Peter helps Kim, who fakes an injury to get his attention.  "It just kin of throbs all over," she says, trying to be flirtatious when coming off as just annoying.  When he takes her home, Ray doesn't recognize him at first, but soon realizes he's the one responsible for the store's wonderful window displays.  He's supportive of Peter, especially knowing that his daughter likes him.  That does not thrill Peter.  "What's wrong with her her?" his roommate asks.  "She's a nut, that's what's wrong with her," Peter moans.

Peter and his roommate come up with a business idea to start a ski lodge out of an abandoned building, but need $3000 to get it up and running.  Papa Ed Asner is reluctant to give him the seed money, but Mama Dorothy McGuire convinces him by saying, "I feel it.  It's our chance to have something.  I feel it in my bones."

While in NYC arranging or supplies, Peter decides to go see Susan's play, the one where she has one line, which happens to be the curtain line, delivered in just a slip.  "Tell her to bring a friend, a nympho, with money," his roommate tells him before sending him backstage for a long-delayed reunion.  She doesn't even notice him, racing into Bill Bixby's arms and then his apartment.  They are basically living in sin because his wife won't agree to a divorce.

Nick is arrested for statutory rape of Talia Shire, which brings scowling Ed out to California, with the $3000 it will cost to get him out of the scrape.  She's pregnant and claims Nick is the father.  Hmmmm, I wonder if that's the same $3000 Peter needed for his ski lodge idea.  Nick wonders how Talia knows the kid is his.  "Because I know," she says.  The charges are dropped if Nick will leave town, much to the delight of his social-climbing family members.  "I did it so the one member of the family who is worth a damn won't have to go through life with a jailbird brother around his neck," Ed says, saying the slate is now clear with them, "the last time I ever want to see or hear from you."  Nick yells after him that, "I'm gonna pay you back, Pa, every last scent, even if I have to jam it down your throat!"

A letter arrives from dad to Peter without the promised $3000.

Now we're cooking again!  After some very slow times, the plot is lurching back, with the brothers pitted against each other by circumstance, not even intentional hatred or disagreement.

How can Peter get the money?  He places a call to Kim Darby.

Nick leaves his family and his job, though not before the rich kids come after him again (although the rich kids look even older than Nick playing teenagers--this in the pre-Botox age).  When one of them insults Talia, Nick beats the hell out of him.

Not only did Nick and Peter have a need for the money, but so do Ed and Dorothy, as the long-planned supermarket is finally about to open, right next door to the bakery, certainly to finally put them out of business.  He comes home to an eviction notice (with two months warning) and Dorothy leaving their bedroom.  She's hopping mad that he bailed out Nick (referring to him as  "perfect stranger")  and wasted the $3000.  "I've got my price too.  $30 a week, but I want my back pay!  It's a bargain rate.  $30 a week for 20 years, I've figured it all out, it's $30,000.  You put $30,000 on the table and I'll talk to you, not before!" she screams at him.  He leaves, with Dorothy shouting at him.

Peter is explaining his business proposal to Ray and Kim when a call comes to Ray's house from his mother.  "I don't know where he is.  He's been gone all day," she says in a trance.  "This time, he's gone for good."  Indeed, what is the most notable failed American dream (remember, the big overall theme of "Rich Man, Poor Man) so far has reached its conclusion.  On a rainy night, Ed takes his rowboat out one last time.  Another one looks to be snuffed out when Talia shows up, in a drenching rain storm, having been tossed out by her father and having lost the baby, to follow Nick out of their small town.